On November 30 at 7pm, we welcome Clevelanders and police reformers from around Ohio and the US to a public presentation and town hall discussion on state of federal policing and police funding in Cleveland, discuss action steps and strategies for moving forward, and to continue our commitment to fighting against this unwanted influx of federal agents and federal money in our community.

Members of Resist Operation Relentless Pursuit-Operation Legend Cleveland and National, Black Lives Matter Cleveland, the Jail Coalition, and Decarcerate Memphis will briefly present recent work and campaigns around these issues, and we'll open the discussion to the community.

We will email you a link to the Zoom meeting in advance -- there is always a call in number for those who do not have regular/home access to a computer.

Thank you for all you do!

An update on the state of Operation Legend:
After an hour of heated comment by the council, the emergency ordinance (675-2020) passed 13-4 in favor of the grant for the federal police funding of Operation Legend. Councilperson Basheer Jones (Ward 7) voted no, Jasmine Santana and Joe Jones abstained, and Brian Mooney was excused.
Here's a youtube video of the City Council meeting vote.

On July 29, a joint press conference between the FBI and the City of Cleveland, Justin Herdman, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio described the program. Using funds provided by the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), federal officers will be permanently stationed in Cleveland to collaborate with local law enforcement (see Table 1 below).

In addition, the BJA will provide $1 million for overtime and equipment. $1.2 million from the Joint Law Enforcement Operations (JLEO) fund of the Asset Forfeiture Fund will be distributed among the federal agencies involved in Operation Legend. An additional $100,000 from ATF will be used to defray the cost of installing ShotSpotter in Cleveland. ShotSpotter is a controversial surveillance technology that uses hidden microphones and remote monitoring to detect the sound of gunshots and relay location information to law enforcement.

This money is in addition to the $10 million granted to Cleveland for Operation Relentless Pursuit, funds that will be used to hire 30 officers in the CDP, 5 in the OSHP and Ohio Investigative Unit*, and 4 in the Adult Parole Authority. There was also $1.4 million from the BJA for Operation Relentless Pursuit, for equipment, overtime, and the hiring of prosecutorial staff. (See Table 2). *OIU enforces Ohio’s alcohol, tobacco, and food stamp fraud laws.

Federal Agents Permanently Assigned to Cleveland